1. INTRODUCTION

The State Tax Administration Agency (hereinafter, the 'Tax Agency') is a public law institution assigned to the Ministry of Finance, through the Secretary of State for Finance. It was created by the State Budget Law for 1991 and it was effectively constituted on the 1st of January 1992. The Tax Agency has its own legal regime that grants it a certain autonomy on the subject of personnel and budgetary management.

The Tax Agency is responsible for the effective application of the national tax and customs systems, and for those resources belonging to other State Public Administrations and the European Union which are entrusted to it for management by law or agreement; however, it has no authority for the preparation and interpretation of tax regulations.

The main indicator of its activity is tax collection. In liquid terms, i.e. once the corresponding tax refunds have been made, tax collection amounted to 193.951 billion euros in 2017, 4.1% higher than the previous year. Without the impact of the new VAT Immediate Disclosure of Information system, the growth would have been 6.4%, amounting to 198.101 billion euros. Elsewhere, the tax collection acquired through tax and customs fraud prevention and control actions amounted to 14.792 billion euros. These details are reflected in the following chart:

A part of the tax collected is assigned to the Autonomous Communities under a common regime. Law 22/2009, of 18 December, which governs the finance system for the Autonomous Communities under joint government and Cities with Autonomy Statutes, and which amended a series of tax regulations, gives to the Autonomous Communities under joint government the total or partial income produced in their territory of a series of tributes managed by the Tax Agency. In particular, on 31 December 2017, the following tax collection percentages were assigned to the Autonomous Communities:

• Personal Income Tax: 50 per cent ⁽¹⁾
• Value Added Tax: 50 per cent
• Excise Taxes
  • Beer Tax: 58 per cent
  • Wine and Fermented Drinks Tax: 58 per cent
  • Tax on Intermediate Products: 58 per cent
  • Tax on alcohol and alcoholic beverages: 58 per cent
  • Tax on Hydrocarbons: 58% (general state rate); 100% (special state rate and autonomous rate)
  • Tax on Tobacco Products: 58 per cent
  • Special Tax on Certain Means of Transport: 100%
  • Electricity Tax: 100%

We should point out that the Special Tax on Certain Means of Transport and the regional rate of Mineral Oil Tax, 100% assigned, are distributed individually to the Autonomous Communities by the Tax Agency, according to the assessments and self-assessments carried out. For this reason, the State tax collection figures do not include income from these two concepts.

As well as the assigned taxes above, the Tax Agency also distributes tax collection to Autonomous Communities for the following concepts:

• 100% of the revenues from the Gaming Activities Tax, corresponding to certain types of games played electronically, using computers or online, in accordance with article 48.11 and transitory provision six of the Gaming Regulation Act no. 13/2011 of 27 May.
• 100% of revenues from the Tax on Deposits in Credit Institutions, pursuant to article 19.14 of Act 16/2012 of 27 December, through which various tax measures aimed at consolidating the public finances and boosting economic activity were adopted.

Revenues from these two items are not included in the State tax collection figures.

The following charts show a series of key data which complement an initial vision of the Tax Agency:

^[1]In the Personal Income Tax, they are given the net regional tax and other concepts in the conditions indicated in article 26.2 of Law 22/2009. It could be approximately indicated that at present 50 per cent is given, a percentage that could vary depending the regulatory capacity of the Autonomous Communities.